It's about friggin time

[RoccoRock]

Just curious Bill, what do you think of my issue with coming off the side of the ball? I haven't been able to fix it, do you think that is hurting my game? I think that may be the reason I struggle with spares one handed, but I'm good with spares two handed. With two hands I come much more up the back. For a while, I actually thought of shooting strikes one hand, and certain spares two hands. I know that's crazy, but so am I.

[Tampabaybob]

First of , congratulations on your one handed 600. Secondly, if your Buddy wants you to bowl a regional with him, tell him as long as he pays the entry fee you'll do it. Otherwise save your money until you are absolutely confident you can put on a good performance.

Because you're capable of shooting 3 different ways, any combination of the three to shoot your spares is ok. At the level you're at right now, look at it this way, " All's fair in love and war, and bowling is more like war when you're in competition." Good luck.

[TCJ]

So I have 600's using 3 different styles, how many people can say that?

I can't quite say it. I've got 700's with one-handed and two-handed. I'm at around a 590 best series for left-handed. I'll get there within a year, I'm sure.

[billf]

See if your buddy can help you start inside the ball and end up behind it. It still gets axis rotation while generating more power PLUS making it easier for spares.
Other than that, shoot them in whatever manner it takes to convert. If I would be 100% on spare granny bowing them, you better be damn sure that's what I would do!

[RoccoRock]

See if your buddy can help you start inside the ball and end up behind it.

I've been working on that by myself. Not comfortable breaking that out in competition just yet, and the rotation and my aim isn't as consistent. That will have to be a side project for now. I'll give myself a chance to work on my spare game before resorting to a different delivery. It would be interesting to shoot strikes one hand and spares two hands. I would be the polar opposite of Osku Palermaa.

[RoccoRock]

So tonight was league night. Not as good as last week in some ways, but better in one way. My strike ball wasn't as consistent. I couldn't string strikes, best I could do was double 3 times. I even threw a gutterball, for the 3rd straight week, and it broke up a good game again. The good, I made more spares. Last week, if you include 2 fill balls, I missed 5 makeable or easy spares. Tonight I missed 2 makeable/easy sapres. I missed a 10 pin that you could barley fit a credit card between the ball and the pin, and the 3-6-10 which has been killing me lately. I did make the 3-6-10 the next 2 times I left it, so I think I have that figured out now. My other 3 opens were splits. I felt like I had 2 terrible games, and one ok game. In the past, those would have been scores in the 150's for the bad games, and 180's for the ok game. Tonight the terrible games were 180, 182, and the ok game was 193. So that's an improvement, even when I suck now I don't suck as bad.

[billf]

Time to change your signature again: sucking a little less one day at a time

[JDHamm85]

I've chopped so many 6s off the 6-10, 3s off the 3 6 10, heck even the 6 in the 3 6 10, that I pretty much know when it is going to happen as soon as it hits the lane.

And I like Bill's new sig for you, haha.

[Tampabaybob]

So tonight was league night. Not as good as last week in some ways, but better in one way. My strike ball wasn't as consistent. I couldn't string strikes, best I could do was double 3 times. I even threw a gutterball, for the 3rd straight week, and it broke up a good game again. The good, I made more spares. Last week, if you include 2 fill balls, I missed 5 makeable or easy spares. Tonight I missed 2 makeable/easy sapres. I missed a 10 pin that you could barley fit a credit card between the ball and the pin, and the 3-6-10 which has been killing me lately. I did make the 3-6-10 the next 2 times I left it, so I think I have that figured out now. My other 3 opens were splits. I felt like I had 2 terrible games, and one ok game. In the past, those would have been scores in the 150's for the bad games, and 180's for the ok game. Tonight the terrible games were 180, 182, and the ok game was 193. So that's an improvement, even when I suck now I don't suck as bad.

Well, interesting post. I'm really glad to see that you've UPPED your percentage on your spares. That's a milestone to be proud of and to try to maintain. But......I detected something else that you said. Re-read your post and see if it jumps out at you.

You stated "missed (a 10 pin that you could barley fit a credit card between the ball and the pin, and) the 3-6-10 which has been killing me lately. I did make the 3-6-10 the next 2 times I left it and "My other 3 opens were splits."

That's 6 frames that you "missed the pocket" out of 30 frames. What happened, or why, would you say, that you missed the pocket "that many times"?
When someone asks me about improving I always will tell them to go back and analyze their series, it can tell you a lot. For instance, my first question would be, "did you pull your ball and miss your spot'? or did the lanes start to transition and you got left behind in the dust and left a split or came in on the nose and ended up with your "dreaded" 3-6-10 leave? See, where I'm going with this? Looking at you evening, even though you bowled well, can help you pick out problems "that may have occurred" and can help you to get past those errors next time out. Most of us remember our scores and in particular our bad shots at least for a few days afterwards. That's when my head stops hurting...LOL Anyway, think about what happened. Did you lift your eyes up off of the target and pull the ball leaving that shot or the splits, or did you not watch the people you bowl with carefully enough to see the lanes starting to transition so you could anticipate the move next time you got up. These are the types of things that happen to all of us, no matter how long you've been a bowler or how good you are. It's just human nature. But you can thwart some of it by spending a few minutes and looking at what happened "after the fact". You take a look at it, see if you can remember those 6 shots, and you tell me what you think was happening. That's the beginning of "learning" how to analyze your game and THAT is what will get YOU to the next level in average. Let me know what you think.

[RoccoRock]

Well, interesting post. I'm really glad to see that you've UPPED your percentage on your spares. That's a milestone to be proud of and to try to maintain. But......I detected something else that you said. Re-read your post and see if it jumps out at you.

You stated "missed (a 10 pin that you could barley fit a credit card between the ball and the pin, and) the 3-6-10 which has been killing me lately. I did make the 3-6-10 the next 2 times I left it and "My other 3 opens were splits."

That's 6 frames that you "missed the pocket" out of 30 frames. What happened, or why, would you say, that you missed the pocket "that many times"?
When someone asks me about improving I always will tell them to go back and analyze their series, it can tell you a lot. For instance, my first question would be, "did you pull your ball and miss your spot'? or did the lanes start to transition and you got left behind in the dust and left a split or came in on the nose and ended up with your "dreaded" 3-6-10 leave? See, where I'm going with this? Looking at you evening, even though you bowled well, can help you pick out problems "that may have occurred" and can help you to get past those errors next time out. Most of us remember our scores and in particular our bad shots at least for a few days afterwards. That's when my head stops hurting...LOL Anyway, think about what happened. Did you lift your eyes up off of the target and pull the ball leaving that shot or the splits, or did you not watch the people you bowl with carefully enough to see the lanes starting to transition so you could anticipate the move next time you got up. These are the types of things that happen to all of us, no matter how long you've been a bowler or how good you are. It's just human nature. But you can thwart some of it by spending a few minutes and looking at what happened "after the fact". You take a look at it, see if you can remember those 6 shots, and you tell me what you think was happening. That's the beginning of "learning" how to analyze your game and THAT is what will get YOU to the next level in average. Let me know what you think.

Yeah, my spare ball was better, but I struggled with strikes, no doubt there. The two splits were game one, frames 2 and 3 before I figured out were I needed to play. I struggled with my backswing height, again, so that gave a few frames away. I also had an issue when I tightened up my thumb hole. While I liked the feel, I needed to find a new spot to play cause my rotation and axis degree changed, so that was a few frames of bad shots. It's all a learning process, these are adjustments I never had to worry about with two hands. Usually with two hands it was just keep moving left until it works, then keep throwing that ball in that spot and make spares. The bad news, I haven't bowled two handed in a while, and my back still hurts.